Prior to 1891, Officer Gustave “Gus” Rosenberg had what was likely a typical career as a Louisville police officer. He appeared in the newspaper on occasion, making arrests and occasionally being criticized for his actions. His rank with the department varied depending upon the administration at the time. He left the Louisville Police Department and returned, occasionally become a private detective (in a time when having a police detective investigate a crime was unusual).
In 1882, he was charged in the shooting death of an individual he was attempting to arrest, who had run at him with a hatchet in the street. He was, after several trials, acquitted. There was, at the time, no suspension from duty, even following the death – he was arrested, posted bond and simply went back to work, only taking off for the actual trials. (At the time, it was excepted that an officer involved in a homicide, would surrender themselves for arrest immediately, even if the situation was clearly self-defense. In many cases, they would be cleared in the coroner’s inquest.) He was, almost certainly, however, not paid for his time off while in trial.
In 1888, his brother, Officer Joseph Rosenberg, was murdered in 1888, along with Officer James Jones, by Charles Dilger. He actively assisted in the investigation of the murder, and ultimately, when Dilger was executed by hanging behind the Jefferson County Jail the following year, he would share a double scaffold with Harry Smart, whom Gus Rosenberg had arrested for another double murder just before his brother’s murder. However, shortly after his brother’s murder, Rosenberg was accused of taking a bribe in an unrelated case and fired. He returned to the force, presumably cleared of the crime, soon after.
On December 25, 1891, Officer Gus Rosenberg was attempting to arrest John Woods, who was apparently being drunk and disorderly by firing off his old musket in the joy of the season. Woods struck Rosenberg in the head with the gun-stock, knocking him briefly unconscious. Rosenberg regained his senses and the arrest was made, with Woods receiving a small fine.
Within the year, however, Policeman Rosenberg’s situation had changed dramatically. On November 6, 1892, officers responded to a frantic phone call to go to Rosenberg’s home, which he shared with a wife and son, at 332 East Chestnut Street near Floyd Street. He was found “in a very violent condition, acting like a crazy man, and it was with great difficulty he was restrained from doing harm to himself.” He had shown no such symptoms before and it was acknowledged that he had received injuries in the attack that “affected his brain and from which he never recovered.” A later story indicated that he had been hospitalized at some point in time after the assault. He recovered enough, however, to be back at work for the Louisville Police Department, as he was noted in a newspaper article in 1895 as making an arrest. He resigned in June, 1895, to pursue private business, which he did, as by the next spring, he was the operator of a furnishing goods establishment at First and Market Streets.
In the same month, however, it was reported that he had been charged with lunacy, and it was hoped that an operation with relieve him. However, it proved unsuccessful. In 1896 he was declared insane and was sent to the Central Asylum for the Insane (sometimes called Lakeland and now, of course, known as the Central State Hospital). In 1904 another surgery was contemplated but presumably also proved unsuccessful.
On April 12, 1909, Gustav “Gus” Rosenberg passed away at the asylum, where he had been, on and off, an inmate. Although Coroner records attributed his death to “old age,” in the story of his death, it was acknowledged that his decline, and eventual death, occurred from the effects of the assault in 1891. He would have been about 53 at the time of his death, no old even by the standards of the time. Although not able to be proven, now, of course, he likely suffered, in 1891, from what would now be classified as a traumatic brain injury. He was survived by his wife, Flora Dinkelspiel Rosenberg, and his son, Alvin. He was also survived by two brothers and a sister. The Night Chief, Edward Burke, extolled him as “absolutely fearless” and “conscientious in the performance of his duty.”
Patrolman Gus Rosenberg is buried in The Temple Cemetery, in Louisville, Cemetery, along with his wife and other family members, including his murdered brother, Joseph Rosenberg. The cemetery was originally located at Preston and Woodbine Streets, but was relocated at a later date due to road construction. Although acknowledged locally as a line of duty death, he is not on the national or state memorials. He is not, at this time, classified as an official line of duty death. (Photos from Find-A-Grave.)
Kentucky Cop Stories 